IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - December 2021 - 295

the operation of remote sensing and GPS. He also developed
and taught a popular course to International Space
University graduate students. Through role-playing exercises
in a model WRC setting, students learned about the
procedures and practices of an actual intergovernmental
treaty meeting.
It was during his work to protect passive remote sensing
bands from OOB emissions that Tom became involved with
FARS Technical Committee. He recognized that the remote
sensing community needed to be more involved with spectrum
management to promote its interests. He took the initiative
to prepare a comprehensive presentation, " Spectrum
101 for Remote Sensing, " that he gave at a special session
organized by the FARS Technical Committee at the 2006
International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium
(IGARSS), in Denver, Colorado. He attended many subsequent
IGARSS meetings and assisted FARS members with
spectrum management matters through his efforts to educate
and interact with remote sensing scientists and engineers.
In 2020, already a FARS senior advisor on spectrum
management, he proposed and became involved with an
initiative to standardize the methodology to quantitatively
assess frequency bands with respect to RFI and contributed,
among other things, to defining the GRSS views for WRC23
agenda items. Overall, Tom assisted FARS members
with spectrum management for more than 15 years as part
of his commitment to educate and engage remote sensing
scientists and engineers.
In the United States, Tom participated in some activities
of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Radio
Frequencies (CORF). He gave briefings to CORF members
at their annual meetings on various aspects of spectrum
management, including consideration of WRC agenda
items that might directly or indirectly affect remote sensing
science. He also worked with representatives of NASA's
Science Mission Directorate Earth Sciences Division to further
the interest and awareness of remote sensing spectrum
management within the NASA science community.
In 2013, Tom was tapped to be NASA's remote sensing
spectrum manager. Chief among his responsibilities was
ensuring that all spectrum/regulatory aspects of NASA's
Earth science remote sensing program were addressed and
protected in ITU-R meetings, and his contributions to ITU-R
Working Party 7C were of critical importance. He advanced
work at the ITU-R level in several areas, including ITU-R
report RS.2178, " The Essential Role and Global Importance
of Radio Spectrum Use for Earth Observations and Related
Applications " and two ITU-R recommendations, RS.1859-1
and RS.1883-1: " Use of Remote Sensing Systems for Data
Collection to be Used in the Event of Natural Disasters and
Similar Emergencies " and " Use of Remote Sensing Systems
in the Study of Climate Change and the Effects Thereof. "
These international documents have helped bring awareness
of the importance of Earth observation systems and
the radio spectrum that they use to many people in the telecommunications
field.
Tom generated U.S. input to ITU-R document 7C/101,
" Active Sensor Characteristics on Using Allocated Bands
From 432 MHz to 238 GHz Applications, " and he was instrumental
in developing ITU-R recommendation RS.2106-0,
" Detection and Resolution of RFI to Earth Exploration Satellite
Service (Passive) Sensors, " which helps explain the
difficulties of dealing with RFI for passive sensors on satellites.
He also contributed to the development and updates
of recommendation RS.2017-0, " Performance and Interference
Criteria for Satellite Passive Remote Sensing, " which
added remote sensing applications above 275 GHz to the
ITU-R technical literature. He led a multiyear effort to develop
recommendation RS.2105-0, " Typical Technical
and Operational Characteristics of Earth ExplorationSatellite
Service (Active) Systems Using Allocations Between
432 MHz and 238 GHz, " and he was a key participant
in efforts to update recommendation RS.1861-0,
" Typical Technical and Operational Characteristics of
Earth Exploration-Satellite Service (Passive) Systems
Using Allocations Between 1.4 and 275 GHz, " which was
recently accepted at ITU-R
Study Group 7 (Science Services),
the parent organization
of Working Party 7C.
When the approval process
is complete, the result will
be an updated and much
improved RS.1861-1 thanks
in no small part to Tom's efforts
during many years.
After retiring from NASA,
Tom continued to support
the remote sensing community
in various venues as a
consultant to NOAA. He was always passionate about the
need to protect Earth observation and remote sensing systems,
especially those employing passive sensors on satellites.
His calm demeanor and logical technical and policy
arguments were effective in international negotiations. His
insight and expertise in spectrum management, especially
for remote sensing, were highly valued by his many colleagues
both domestically and internationally.
Always curious about how things work, Tom had an inHIS
PASSION FOR THE
BEAUTY AND
SUSTAINABILITY OF THIS
PLANET FUELED HIS
ADVOCACY FOR SCIENCE
TO STUDY EARTH AND
MITIGATE CLIMATE
CHANGE.
ventive nature and often customized tools and equipment
for special purposes. His passion for the beauty and sustainability
of this planet fueled his advocacy for science to
study Earth and mitigate climate change. With a long career
that took him from early satellite communications to global
negotiations on behalf of NASA and the United States,
Tom left an indelible imprint on spectrum management for
remote sensing, and his absence creates a hole that will be
difficult to fill.
DECEMBER 2021 IEEE GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING MAGAZINE
295
IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - December 2021

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